Records Crusader on Hunt for FBI-Themed Movies

WASHINGTON (CN) — The FBI’s involvement in the production of more than 40 films, including blockbusters “Silence of the Lambs” and “Transformers,” is the focus of a federal complaint by Freedom of Information Act crusader Jason Leopold.

The investigative reporter fired off the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday – just as word spread of his move to the infotainment giant Buzzfeed.

Records indicate that the movie suit and another brought by Leopold are the court’s first of 2017.

The first action accuses the Justice Department of stonewalling Leopold’s demand for documents related to the FBI’s involvement in the movie business since 1980, with a special focus on the movie “Game of Pawns.”

A 30-minute film the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Unit released in 2014, the film depicts Glenn Duffy Shriver’s involvement as an operative for the Chinese government.

Leopold says he is still waiting on a final determination of his request, which he filed in August 2014.

In addition to “Game of Pawns,” the request names dozens of movies with FBI involvement – some obvious like “Catch Me If You Can,” some less obvious like “Big Momma’s House,” the original and the sequel.

Leopold also wants records on the FBI’s involvement in “Saw” movies IV-VI, and the list includes “twin” mentions of “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.”

The second complaint Leopold filed takes aim at the CIA, saying the agency has ignored his September 2016 request for every issues of the internal newsletter “What’s News” published that year.